Texting - In March, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed a new federal regulation to address distracted driving by truckers, bus drivers, and other commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators. Under the proposed regulation, CMV drivers could face fines or operating disqualification if convicted of texting while driving. On September 21, after considering public comments on the proposed rule, FMCSA published the final rule, which will take effect on October 21, 2010. You can read the final rule <a href="http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2010/09/27/2010-23861/limiting-the-use-of-wireless-communication-devices">here</a>.

Rule Summary

Texting

This is the first in a set of proposed new federal regulations to address distracted driving by truckers, bus drivers, and other commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators. CMV drivers, including those required to have “commercial driver's licenses,” could face fines or operating disqualification if convicted of texting while driving. This rule would not affect talking on cell phones, or using devices like GPS or in-cab fleet management systems. (The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) plans to addess these distractions in future rulemakings.) Although ordinary drivers are not covered by FMCSA's proposal, all members of the public have a right to provide feedback on this rule. You can do that here in Regulation Room.

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Final summary

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Risks of Texting & Level of Support for a CMV Texting Rule in General

No one challenged FMSCA’s assessment that texting is a highly risky type of driving distraction, although one commenter (affiliated with Truck Driver News blog) was critical of the VTTI study for including “near misses” in their risk calculations: a near miss is not an accident. The principal disagreement came over whether a texting ban for CMV operators was the appropriate government response.

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I have never seen a more poorly deisgned site where it is hard to guess what and how to provide feedback.

Slow script prevented me from submitting comments

Wow, this is a really bad site - I've registered and tried to confirm my registration but I keep getting a blank page that says "done"?? When I go to the site to try and sign in I get a statement that says "this account does not exist"????

This website isn't working correctly. I'm logged in and when I click on the box to start submitting a comment, a pop up comes up telling me to log in - I do so, click on the box, and the log in pop up comes up again. The comment box behind gets grayed out and there's no way to type in anything! I've tried it on three different web browsers and it happens on all three.

site is poorly designed and NOT user friendly. Too much is counterintuitive, and directions are muddled at best.

This is a horribly designed site. It took me 5 minutes just to find the proposed rules that we're supposed to comment on. There should be a "Proposed Rules" button on the main menu bar at the top of the page, not something unclearly labeled "Rule Dashboard" off to the side (with the type running vertically, so it's hard to read). A properly designed Web site should be intuitive. It shouldn't need to include videos that explain how to use it. You do a nice job of explaining the proposed rules. That same clarity should extend to the design of the site itself. Steve Millburg Homewood, AL stevemillburg@yahoo.com

This site is seriously buggy. I have now entered my comments two times and neither time have they been accepted. The pop-up windows come up at random times. I wasn't allowed to edit at one point. This site has potential but it needs serious work.

Says "Page not nound" when I try to activate my account from the link in your e-mail to me.

will not accept my comment!

One must have the patience of Job to add a comment on this very badly created website. The Webmaster should be ashamed of him/herself. Take some classes to learn how to do it right!

This site is extremelety difficult to use. I try to make a comment, it asks for a log-in, I log-in, I try to make a comment, it asks for a log-in. This is Groundhog Day. Just give me a fricking e-mail address and I'll mail in my comments.

Distracted Driving & Texting

Scope of Proposed Rule

Enforcement

Regulatory Impacts

Collaboration Phase